Buddha Fellowship Program is open for its 2023
Application closes by 1st Oct 23
The Buddha Institute is a dedicated platform of entrepreneurism, mentorship and support for socio-economic change for young minds who are driven to change the social reality in India and in other developing economies. We encourage the creation of an eco-system for sustainable, problem-solving models among the poor leading to improved livelihoods.
The support we provide to development entrepreneurs comprises a distinguished group of eminent mentors, partnerships with government and private sector, financial support, a thriving community base, an immersion program, freedom to pilot ideas fearlessly, quality clinics for learning, and an overall nurturing attitude of the management team strengthened by an inspiring founder.
An initiative of SRIJAN, The Buddha Institute is hosted under Education for Employability Foundation, registered as a public charitable trust. With initial funding from Axis Bank, Ford Foundation, and 50 individual donors, we have established a Board of Trustees, an informal council of advisors, and a strong management team.
Buddha Fellowship Program (BFP) is a unique program focusing on grooming early-stage Development Entrepreneurs (DEs) to help in nation building. The fellowship provides grant support, field-level handholding and mentoring and access to network of Buddha Fellows. BFP aims to create 1,000 Development Entrepreneurs over a period of ten years by grooming at least 100 young bright minds annually. Through each DE, BFP hopes to provide livelihoods to at least 5,000 poor families either in the form of jobs or micro-entrepreneurship, thus creating livelihood opportunity for a total of 5 million families in ten years.
The Buddha Fellowship Program
The Buddha Fellowship is a social responsibility initiative by The Buddha Institute. Extended over a period of 24 months, it is a mentoring program for the Buddha Fellows. Six Buddha Entrepreneurship Clinics (BECs) are organised during this period to support them.
Program Offering
The Program builds capacity of Buddha Fellows by linking them with rural community, unlocking grants and private capital, providing mentoring by leading experts and by enabling access to labs and facilities.
The Buddha Fellowship spans over 24 months, offering a comprehensive program tailored to the needs of selected entrepreneurs. During the 3 months of this fellowship, participants will benefit from an intensive and personalized journey. Entrepreneurs who successfully meet their developmental and business objectives during this initial phase will progress to the 18 months of the program.
Furthermore, enterprises that demonstrate remarkable progress toward their developmental goals will become eligible for additional growth-stage support from the Buddha Institute.
Support Offered
- Connect to NGOs offering services to social entrepreneurs
- Access to Impact Capital & Government Schemes
- Expert guidance on aspects like business strategy, operations, technology integration and marketing
- On-going mentoring both at the grassroot level and in specially designed Buddha Entrepreneurship Clinics.
- Linkage with funding opportunities (Support up to INR 10,00,000 – 5 lakh in year 1 and additional Rs. 5 lakh in year 2, against mutually agreed deliverables, in two dimensions – social impact and business performance’ and linkages to impact investment and government schemes)
- A growing network of experienced and mature Buddha Fellows who are traversing a similar journey
Our commitment to you
Geographic Expansion – We will enable you to grow your business in a new geography or market. Experts will guide you to think deeper and perfect your solution. You can lean on the Buddha Entrepreneurship Network to rapidly gain traction.
NGOs in our network will help you garner trust within the community. These communities can help you source raw materials for your business.
Product Diversification – Mentors will guide you in conducting feasibility study to diversify the portfolio of your products and services, including finding a niche in a crowded marketplace. Diversifying may require adopting technologies to process and store.
Similarly, sourcing from scattered geographies and supplying to a distant market requires large amount of working capital. We will help you on all such fronts.
Stabilization and Growth – We will support you in creating a long-term strategic plan for your development enterprise. With a view on operational success, we will also assist you in gaining ess to the required human and financial resources towards realising your vision.
Our team will actively help you secure grants or subsidies under relevant government schemes.
Buddha Entrepreneurship Clinic
Every quarter Buddha Fellows come to attend this offsite problem-solving workshop, which are called Buddha Entrepreneurship Clinic, where they meet with subject experts and mentors and come up with their own solutions. Buddha Fellows learn from Each Other’s experience as well in these quarterly clinics.
Apply Now for the 2023-2025 cohort
Buddha Fellows are progressive in their thinking, passionate about creating an equitable society, and resilient in realising their dream. They take risks, have a problem-solving attitude, are innovative, and can deal with ambiguity.
Tangibly, we are looking for individuals who meet the following criteria
Individual Attributes:
- Desire to address issues like inequality, poverty, and dignity of life
- Ability to build consensus among different stakeholders
- Grit and determination
- Track record of execution
Organisational Features:
- For-profit enterprise, in operation for at least two years
- Directly impacts the lives of vulnerable groups
- Preferred sectors: Agriculture, Livelihoods, Health and Environment
- May be incubated elsewhere
Eligibility
Development entrepreneurs in operation for at least two years are eligible to apply. The organisation must be registered as a for-profit organisation and should have direct impact on vulnerable communities. Preference will be given to women, dalit, and tribal entrepreneurs
Provide Mentorship
Preferred Sectors include
- Agri Processing
- Non timber forest produce processing
- & Marketing
- Breed Improvement Technologies
- and VetCare Services
- Rainwater Harvesting and Use,
- Efficiency &Soil Health
- Millets (Forgotten Food)
- Reducing Drudgery of Farm Labor
- (women)
- Environmental Services
- Education
- Health
